Bangladesh records lowest Covid-19 deaths in 39 days
Meanwhile, 1,822 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the last 24 hours with a declining positivity rate of 8.44%
The government is trying to source Covid-19 vaccines from many countries, including those who are currently manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine besides India, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Thursday.
"We have had an agreement with Serum Institute of India to get a total of 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. We have so far received 70 lakh doses with another 30 lakh doses as a gift from the Indian government," the minister said in a virtual discussion on how to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 and overcome the oxygen crisis.
"Around 60 lakh people in Bangladesh have so far received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and half of them also received the second dose, nearly running out our stocks," he added.
"The government remains vigilant on completing the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the country. I hope we will be able to give our countrymen good news very soon in this regard," Zahid Maleque continued.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 41 more deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours till Thursday 8am, which is the lowest in the last 39 days.
On 28 March this year, 35 people were killed by the virus in a single day, and the number of daily fatalities continued to rise.
The total number of Covid-19 deaths reached 11,796 in the country with a fatality rate of 1.53 %, said a media statement issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, 1,822 new positive cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 7,69,160.
However, the positivity rate remained below 9% for the fourth straight day on Thursday, with a positivity rate of 8.44% in the latest 24 hours.
In the latest day, 21,585 samples were tested in 428 labs across the country.
Among the latest day's victims, 22 were men and 19 were women. Of them 40 died undergoing treatment in different hospitals across the country, while one died at home.
Also, 3,698 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries now stands at 7,02,163 with a recovery rate of 91.29%.
The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March.